City Fest to the Lager House Marathon (Sunday 7-8-07)- Part 2

City Fest to the Lager House Marathon (Sunday 7-8-07)- Part 2
Current mood: exhausted
Category: Music

M- Part 2

Able to park right in front of the lounge, we entered the place, ordered another beer, and found a seat near the stage. Brave Rifles and only Brave Rifles tonight baby! We've seen this band a number of times since we ran into them during this past Blowout over at Small's. These guys have quite a "unique" sound for a rock band, and believe me they do rock. They blend plenty of harmonies with melodic keys then hammer it home with enormous riffs and a pounding back beat. Just they way we like it. Their shows tend to get you off you're feet and moving to their sounds. They are currently readying their latest offering for a release party this August at the Magic Stick (rumor has it that it will drop 8/18 at the Stick) and previewed a number of tunes for us tonight. Wish I knew the name of this one song (actually that night I did but now it's gone hmmm…) that I really liked. Had their trade mark sound and featured Sean at one point on Lead Vox with Ray belting out a backing vocal that was superb! Can't wait for their new one, I'm sure it'll get quite a few spins in the player. Check them out at  braveriflesmusic.com . As it was getting past 11 pm, and with Thunderbirds Are Now! due on at 11, and The Hard Lessons due up at around 12pm, we decided to check out of the Northern Lights and ride on over to the infamous Lager House. 

The Lager House. What a crazy old place this is. If you love music, and have not been to the Lager House, you do not know what you're missing. I mean The Hard Lessons finishing out a day long music marathon at the Lager House! I haven't been this excited about a show at the Lager since Wendy and the Paybacks crew played there last fall!As you could imagine by now, we've been at this since like 3pm and it was now 11:30 pm as we are walking (ok stumbling) through the Lager's parking lot, there is this group of women standing around and as we walk past, guess who's standing in the middle of it all? Not surprising at all, The Anvil from the Hard Lessons! This guy certainly has the ladies around him at all times! You go Christophe! As we wipe the sweat from our eyes and pony up with the doorman, we enter into the depths of Lagerism. As we tell all who dare to venture into this palce with us, be prepared to be "Lagered", and tonight fit that bill perfectly. A balmy 115 degress inside, we where disappointed to find this band from Dayton Ohio on stage still. Not one to knock any bands, although they are from Ohio, we gave them a listen(you can check'em out here-humanreunion.com), then proceeded out the back door to our favorite resting spot, The Lager Patio! Full house! As we hammered down our who knows how many-eth beer, we got a chance to talk with Augie for a while and reflect on the year that they've had so far as a band. To put it simply, they're ecstatic about what has happened to them, and the road that they are cruising down. We expect some big things are heading their way in the future. 

Human Reunion load out, Thunderbirds Are Now! load in. Quick check and TAN! is off and running, and I mean off and running! We have never had the chance to see these guys before and lookout, they NEVER slow done. Don't get in these guys way or they will just roll right over you and never look back. Playing a experimental/garage/electro rock type of thing, Ryan Allen (guitar/vox) rips on his guitar from start to finish, as Scott Allen just goes completely berserk on his keys, and Matt Rickles makes as many faces while banging his drums as his long lost Grandfather (as in Don-JK) makes insults. A truly rambunctious group, they proceeded to educate us on what Thunderbirds Are Now! is all about. Playing their supercharged hits, "We Win ha ha" and "Shake Them Awake", Ryan A. invited Augie up on stage while Scott A. hit just about everything out there with his tambourine, including Augie's head. At one point during a scorching solo by Ryan, he actually stepped forward on the stage a little to far and he fell off (or was it into) the stage and landed with his back up against the Lager's PA and never lost rhythm as he just keep right on going. I don't believe anybody even noticed that had happened except for Don & I as he almost ended up on top of us! Crazy good stuff! Check these dudes out @ thunderbirdsarenow.com.  

Now that TAN! was off the stage at 12:30 am, aprox 1 ½ hours later than I expected, I was kinda getting worried as I am due to work (as in my real job) by 8 am later that day, and The Hard Lessons haven't even came out yet! Oh well, I lived to tell about it! While Augie was out roaming around with his 2 cousins that were visiting from the homeland of Italy, The Anvil & KoKo started the task of loading in. When Augie finally came round to lend his hand, his first task was to make sure those owls were still secured to his and KoKo's stacks……Very obvious the amount of load in-load out experience this trio has over the years, as they were set up & checked in, in less than 10 min's. Awesome!  As the Jerome Cavanaugh Room (AKA The Sauna, it must have been 125 degress by this time!) filled up, the amps were turned on and away we went. Veering totally of course from their earlier set, The Hard Lessons proceeded to come full circle, as it was here, in this very room, on another Sunday in the not too distant past, which they set forth down this path of rock and roll stardom that seems ever so close. At one point during the set, Augie, you could see it in his eyes, was just itching to climb something. If you have ever seen these guys before you know that he likes to jump, climb and swing on just about anything he can get his hands on. And it was the PA he had his mind set on this time. So as he started to climb up the side of the Lager's "not so mammoth" PA, he made the statement to the sound guy, "Don't worry, I won't swing from your plastic pipes". Hmmm. Hey Augie, there just might be a song in that one for you! That's it, the show ended with Augie flying out the Lager's back door and out onto Michigan Avenue while KoKo & the Anvil continued to jam out the final beats of their set. As the Final notes were hit, the two of them followed Augie's key, and flew out the back door (which is actually in the front) and met up with us outside on Michigan Ave, while at the exact same time, out from the Real Front door comes the guy (assisted by the "bouncer") who was bugging everybody in the place about wanting to buy a "Light Blue Shirt"? If you've read Jasper's blog you'll know who I'm talking about…….Yes he was bloodied up a bit, but then again, this IS the Lager House! Rock on my friends.  

Dr2 is heading on over to the Fraser Fair tonight to catch Jason Hartless Jr. in the beer tent minus the Brian Schramm Band. (of course we have it on pretty good sources, that indeed on Saturday, Brian & Dave will be up on stage with him in the beer tent, before heading out to the Baker's Dozen later that night) Stay tuned, www.detroitrockreview.com will be unleashed soon……Over

Mark